[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 59 (Monday, May 15, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3941-S3942]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TEN SMART THINGS TO DO WHILE YOU AGE
Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, getting old is probably the most
universal experience no one really likes to talk about. Sure, people
talk about minor aches and pains, but the big topics are unmentionable.
They include paying for a funeral, preparing for a nursing home stay,
or getting checked for prostate problems. These things make people
uncomfortable, but they really should not. Consider Katie Couric's
comment about colon cancer. She said, ``Some people find the procedures
like . . . colonoscopies unappealing. I can tell you they are all much
more appealing than dying of this disease.''
In honor of Older Americans Month, I encourage aging adults--and that
means all of us--to mention the unmentionable, and to think the
unthinkable. Once you get these chores done, the rest of your years
will be a day in the country. Here are 10 Smart Things to Do While You
Age:
1. Secure your retirement income. One financial planner said saving
for
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retirement is ``like pushing a ball up a hill. The longer you wait, the
steeper the hill (seems).'' Yet 56 percent of U.S. households do not
save enough for retirement. What should you do? The experts advise
developing a financial plan and sticking to it. Save $25 a week for 40
years with 5 percent interest. You will have $165,000. Before you
decide how much to set aside, think about how much you will need to
maintain a standard of living.
My own advice is do not overrely on Social Security. Think of it this
way, a solid retirement plan is a three-legged stool of Social
Security, retirement savings, and a pension. Look carefully at your
pension plan, too. Make sure you understand what's coming to you, and
when.
2. Think about where you would like to live, and how. Do you dream of
staying in the same town or city for the rest of your life? If
necessary, could you modify your home to accommodate you as you get
older? Would you like to move closer to friends and family? Would you
like a condo on the beach in Florida or an assisted living facility,
where you pay people to do your laundry and cook your meals? This item
goes hand-in-hand with financial planning. The more retirement income
you have, the more housing options you have.
3. Get preventive health checks, exercise, and eat well. Preventive
health checks are getting easier all the time. Increasingly, they are
available through insurance coverage. Medicare covers vaccinations,
mammograms and screenings for colon and prostate cancer, diabetes and
other illnesses. Unfortunately people often do not take advantage of
the health screenings available to them. Only one of eight older people
gets the recommended testing for colon cancer. This is a shame, when
you consider that colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of
cancer death.
More than half of all Americans do not get the exercise they need.
Generally, the older people get, the less they exercise. Of course,
some people have physical limitations that prevent such activities, but
those who can exercise should, and at any age, doctors say. Exercise
can help stave off heart disease, colon cancer, diabetes and high blood
pressure. A good diet carries many of the same benefits
4. Write a will or living trust. Either of these documents delineates
how you'd like your property distributed after your death. If you die
without a will, the State will distribute your property for you. The
result may be contrary to your wishes. It is best to write a will or
living trust well before old age. That way, your spouse and children
will be provided for if you face an untimely death. More than 40
percent of people 35 or older do not have any kind of legal document
determining how their belongings will be distributed after they die.
5. Consider long-term care insurance. Many people do not realize that
nursing homes are very expensive. Most nursing home residents do not
pay out of their pockets for long. They spend down their assets to
become qualified for Medicaid, which then picks up the tab. Spending
down assets means giving up almost everything, including a house. Long-
term care insurance is an option for covering long-term care expenses.
The earlier you buy the insurance, the less expensive your premiums. I
have sponsored legislation that would establish a tax deduction to
encourage the purchase of long-term insurance.
6. Plan your funeral and burial or cremation. The national average
cost for a funeral, burial and monument is $7,520. These costs can be
much lower, but they can be much, much higher. The average mark-up on
caskets is high. The latest estimated mark-up is 500 percent. Some are
marked up as high as 2,000 percent. The high costs, and the presence of
some bad applies in this industry, build the case for arranging a
funeral early. It is hard to comparison-shop when you are grieving. If
you plan ahead, you can call funeral homes for the best price. Of
course, planning ahead has its pitfalls. Be sure you tell your family
members about prearrangements, and give them all the relevant
paperwork. That way, your family can verify that your contract is
fulfilled after you're gone.
7. Think about whether a family member will care for you, or vice
versa. Unpaid family caregivers keep millions of people at home and out
of nursing homes. More than 22 million households have a caregiver who
is age 50 or older. The majority are women. Caregiving takes a large
toll, both financially and emotionally. I am working to provide more
resources to family caregivers, including a $3,000 tax credit that
would help them cover their expenses.
8. Decide how long you will work. Until recently, people who worked
past age 65 lost Social Security benefits if they made more than
$17,000 a year. Congress just repealed that penalty for people ages 65
to 69. This likely will cause many Americans to rethink whether they
will work past age 65, either part-time or full-time. Choosing the best
age at which to retire is an important financial decision.
9. Determine your treatment at the end of life. In a living will,
which, or course, is completely different from an estate-planning will,
you direct how your doctor should administer life-sustaining treatment
if you are unable to decide for yourself. A living will guides your
treatment if you are terminally ill, irreversibly unconscious, or in a
persistent vegetative state.
10. Enjoy yourself. You have worked hard to stay financially fit and
physically healthy. The opportunities for older Americans are greater
than ever before. You can work well into your eighties and nineties if
you choose. You can become a competitor in the Senior Olympics. You can
write a book, volunteer with your church, or teach people how to read.
Surf the Internet. E-mail your grandchildren. Take advantage of the
insight and depth that inevitably come with aging. Someone once said,
``Being a fun person is the hallmark of true maturity.
I yield the floor.
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